Dutch univ. wants first ever photo of black hole

The Faculty of Astronomy at the Radboud University of Nijmegen wants to capture the first image of a black hole in history using the world's largest virtual telescope. The black hole the university aims to capture is called Sagittarius A*, the existence of which has not yet been confirmed. "If this works, we can provide direct evidence for the theory of general relativity. We may also accurately study behavior of matter under extreme gravity," Marc Klein Wolt, director of the Radboud Radio Lab, said. The Radboud Radio Lab won a record amount of grants totaling 14 million euros for its Black Hole Camera project. The university itself invested another 1.3 million. "We get very sensitive cameras with which we can still do a lot more research," Klein Wolt continued. "From mysterious astrophysical jets that can still escape from beyond the event horizon, to X-rays near black holes." "A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out," NASA said on its website. Using the example of a star's death, the space agency said the phenomenon occurs when matter is squeezed into a diminutive space, leading to the strong increase in gravity. "Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible."